Mark, if you get BBC America on your tv system, watch Top Gear. They solved the problem - you drive it to the track, race it, and drive it home. They were racing motorhomes and what a hoot.
At the end they showed the $1.5 million German motorhome that has a compartment on the side that holds a very nice sports car. Someone had commented that they don't make large MHs in Europe. Clearly they had not seen this one.
Don
Don, Bev & Phil
07 Jayco 32SS on Kodiak May 07 Yahoo Kodiak Group
06 HR Amb 40PLQ ISC 330/950 9/05-5/07
04 Winnie Jrny 39W CAT C7 7/04-9/05)
00 Triple E Commander 5/03-5/04
Toad - 07 Tahoe LTZ 12/06 -
04 Colorado Z71 04- 06
I saw that show... I think my wife might be a bit peeved if the MH looked like those did at the end of the day.
:-)
Any chance I'll find a used unit built on the bigger truck chassis in the $60k range? I checked out ShowHauler & DynaQuest... I just laughed when I saw it was all $200k & up for new stuff. :-)
Its looking more and more like if we want to tow with an RV (that we can afford), we'll have to downsize the trailer to an open unit. I should be able to get the weight down around 5k to 5.5k that way, but we'll hate giving up the enclosed setup.
I am doing exactly what you are looking to do. I ended up getting the smallest floorplan gulfstream offered in the Super C to keep the weight down I weighed it this past weekend and as was mentioned above I am still overweight. With full fuel 3/4 full propane, 3/4 full water 3 adults and a 9mo old a 28' enclosed trailer with my race car quad and all the extra tools fuel etc. I was 27,780lbs total 9200 on the trailer axle 13,325 on the rear axle and 5255 on the front axle. I am going to put a bit more tension on my load distributing hitch and make sure the car is all the way back in the trailer. That should get the rear axle weight back under the axles rated 13,000lb. I have no issues towing with it it is the gas 8.1L it could use a bit more power but its not bad just thirsty. I usually hang right with traffic no problem 75mph or so on the highway.
Your rear axle is probably 13,500 lbs, but the GVWR is still 19,500...the front should be 7,000 lbs, and that is where the problem can be with the Super C Kodiaks. The extra CCC is on the front axle where you can't load anything...
Denny
1kwik72 wrote: 13,325 on the rear axle and 5255 on the front axle. I am going to put a bit more tension on my load distributing hitch and make sure the car is all the way back in the trailer. That should get the rear axle weight back under the axles rated 13,000lb. I have no issues towing with it it is the gas 8.1L it could use a bit more power but its not bad just thirsty. I usually hang right with traffic no problem 75mph or so on the highway.
For that budget, I think a shorter E450 class C with a Class 5 receiver and a Trailer Toad is going to be your best choice. At least you can stay under GVWR and RAWR with that setup. The E450 us rated up to 10,000 pounds towing capacity, but the RV makers usually put on a much smaller hitch. GCWR is 20,000 pounds, which you will over, but the powertrain is rated much higher in other applications. I run up to 26,000 combined with my E350. Reliability is still top notch. But, I did add the Banks powerpack and a Predator tuner so that my performance is still still good at that weight.
Bryan
2000 Ford E350 DRW Wagon (14-pass all captains chairs)
V10 w/ Banks PowerPack, Diablo Predator, 4.56 LS, 230,000+ miles
Weekend Warrior FSW 3400 (41' actual length)
Thanks for the link (and the pointer to racingjunk.com in general). I hadn't seen that particular one, but had seen a Renegade in Washington, PA (not too far away).
The miles concern me some on these though... I realize that trucks aren't like regular cars when it comes to mileage, but I'm wondering if I wouldn't be buying a bunch of problems.
What're "normal" miles to get to before you need to start worrying about replacing turbos, engine overhauls, etc. on these things?
As you can see, the biggest challenge in a Class C (Ford E-450 or Kodiak C-5500) is that MH manufacturers put too much house of the chassis - that is, they do not leave enough towing capacity for you.
However, there are a number of E450's right at 25' that might be close. The 24' (or less) rigs seem to be almost always on the lighter Chevy chassis.
Still - keep looking. A very heavy rig or a lightweight E-450 would do the job.
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